{"id":12535,"date":"2023-08-18T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12535"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:54:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:54:48","slug":"artist-interview-bella-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2023\/08\/18\/artist-interview-bella-white\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Interview: BELLA WHITE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Bella<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

by Mike Thiessen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re all so attentive!\u201d Bella White exclaimed to her quietly captivated audience halfway through her Sunday afternoon concert at Folk Fest\u2019s Spruce Hollow stage. It\u2019s hard not to be  \u2013 White\u2019s viscerally relatable lyricism and sweet and powerful vocals doused in a healthy amount of classic old-time country twang get at listeners in a way that not much else does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

White was born and raised in Calgary, and it was there that she got her start in the bluegrass music scene. Throughout her teenage years, she would play around the city, both on her own and in other bands. \u201cWhen I was in high school, I had a fake ID that I would use to go around and play in bars \u2013 I feel like they eventually learned that I was lying when I turned eighteen,\u201d she recalls with a laugh. Presumably, being deceived about White\u2019s age was a small price for the bars to pay for the delight of watching her come up as an artist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All through her formative years, White was exposed to old-time country through her bluegrass-playing Virginian father, and she latched onto this tradition without thinking twice. For her, there\u2019s just something innately appealing about the genre that simply calls out to her. \u201cI always did really like the music,\u201d says White. \u201cI don\u2019t think I ever went through a phase where I thought it was stupid or anything \u2026 I always thought it was cool, and it looked really fun to play.\u201d As a preteen, she began attending NimbleFingers, a workshop-oriented bluegrass festival near Kamloops. To see droves of artists in their twenties playing music she\u2019d only known to be appreciated by older people was revolutionary for White. \u201cI saw these young people doing this thing I already thought was pretty cool, and I realized I had peers! From that moment on, it was kind of end game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has proved, it would seem, to be the right decision for her. Over the past couple of years, White has really taken off in both senses of the term. Her most recent album, Among Other Things, <\/em>released in April of this year, has been received to great acclaim, and she has been touring across North America and Europe. White channeled a sense of empowerment in the creation of the album. \u201cAll my songs are sad \u2013 that\u2019s something I\u2019m working on,\u201d she laughs. \u201cBut I\u2019ve tried to take those hard and sad feelings and package them up in this way that makes you feel good after you listen to them. It\u2019s about taking control of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling good while listening to the music of White and her band is not a hard task. During her Saturday workshop at Bur Oak, children were spun around in circles by their parents, audience members cheerfully tapped their toes and rocked back and forth, and an older gentleman danced with vigour unseen at any other stage over the course of the weekend. Bluegrass-adjacent music tends to be favoured by a pretty widespread group. The reason for this, White believes, is that it\u2019s a generally relatable, accessible, and fun genre, and a good bluegrass or old-time group knows how to tap into that energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its conception, one of bluegrass\u2019 common themes has been leaving \u2013 getting out, seeking greener pastures, going back to old Kentucky, what have you. White\u2019s music follows in this tradition with pleasure. On the first track of the new album, \u201cThe Way I Oughta Go,\u201d White sings, \u201cWell, dreaming never met me in Alberta\/ So I packed my things, Tennessee I did go.\u201d She\u2019s not simply singing words here \u2013 the concept of abandoning all familiarity and seeing what the world has to offer is one with which White is well acquainted. At 22 years old, she has already lived in multiple provinces and states and has seen even more. As for her relationship with the idea of getting out and going someplace new, it\u2019s very much on the line between two internal senses. \u201cThere are definitely elements of escapism \u2013 being like, \u2018If I go away, I don\u2019t have to face this, and I don\u2019t have to deal with this \u2013 goodbye.\u2019 But there\u2019s also this yearning for what\u2019s out there. I love what I don\u2019t know \u2026 I\u2019m aware of the fact that there are a billion things I don\u2019t know and will never know, but you can find them along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given her touring schedule, White seems likely to find these things she doesn\u2019t know at quite a pace. She stopped at Winnipeg Folk Festival between a stint in the UK a couple of weeks before and a trip to Montana one week after and has since continued on the bluegrass festival circuit across the continent. This lifestyle aligns nicely with White\u2019s desire to see what\u2019s out there. \u201cTouring can be this interesting dichotomy between getting that itch scratched, being out in the world and seeing what\u2019s going on, but you\u2019re also only getting these tiny glimpses. In some ways,\u201d she reflects. \u201cTouring feeds the urge to know more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White remarked at the end of her set (at which point the crowd remained just as attentive, if not more so) that this was her first time in Winnipeg, a fact that felt strange to her given her relative proximity growing up in Calgary. The weekend she spent here, however, gave her a good impression. \u201cDoing these kinds of festivals embodies that sense of community,\u201d she says, referring back to the welcoming environment that bluegrass and old-time country creates. \u201cComing to Folk Fest feels really good to me. I feel hugged by it. There\u2019s this sense of intimacy that you get at these festivals \u2013 you get familiar with it, you meet people, you get to play with people. It feels so good to do that.\u201d With its community-minded approach, she says, festivals like Winnipeg Folk Fest are the ultimate setting for bluegrass and country music. Due to this fact, with any luck, Winnipeg has hopefully not seen the last of Bella White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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